The Gift
by Pyry Cole
Summary: Sequel to "Catching Up": A press conference is held to elucidate the events which had recently taken place. Ace remains haunted by shadows of the past.


The Gift

By Pyry Cole (~Siriusandpyri)

A Loonatics Unleashed fan-fiction.

This is a follow-up to the story "Catching Up" as it recaps the event which lead to the previous scene.

(I'm worried about the quality of this story X.x I only hope that it's up to standard at all.)

Ace sat back in a simple chair, his features permeated by fatigue. His normally vibrant sapphire eyes dulled by a downcast look. The gray rabbit wore a simple, but messy black cotton shirt, with long white sleeves, and a pair of black jeans. By the state of his clothing, it could be assumed that he may well have been wearing the same outfit for the past several days. He was atop a platform, in the middle of a large metallic room. The other Loonatics, save for one, stood before him, clad in their black uniforms, accented by their particular colors. Behind a podium at the center of this platform was Tech E Coyote. The coyote was of a slim build, standing about 4 feet 11 inches in height, discounting his ears. The black costume made the fur on his face appear a minty green, and the outfit had other accents of green, including the belt, and a triangle on the chest, the same as had always been for the team. He looked about at the others, identifying the respective colors of the others' belts, purple, pink, and red.

Beyond the platform, Ace could make out the blurred mass of press officials, bright flashes emanating from the crowd as pictures were taken. The room was flooded with the murmur of voices, as the reporters talked amongst themselves and their crews. This continued a few moments, before the coyote at the podium raised a hand. Immediately the crowd had silenced, eagerly awaiting Tech's address. All eyes were focused on him. Even Ace had locked his gaze expectantly upon the coyote.

Tech began to speak, his tone serious and dark. "We have called the press here at the behest of our leader, Ace Bunny." The coyote gestured toward the disheveled looking rabbit in the chair at the back of the platform. "He has declined to speak. However, he wants to us to elucidate the events which had transpired in the incident two weeks ago. In his words, 'we need to let the world know what it lost'." Tech produced a red card from within his pocket. "This is a reconstructed holographic record of our recent encounter with the martian empire." He paused briefly, his voice faltered slightly as he continued. "It was during this encounter that a friend and a fellow member of the Loonatics... Danger Duck, had given his life." The statement caused Ace to momentarily wince, as though someone had prodded a tender bruise.

The coyote inserted the card into a slot on the podium. Details of the room began to melt away in an orange glow. The cold paneled ceiling replaced by a cloudy night sky, the walls of the room faded, giving way to an outdoor view of Acmetropolis.

The spectators found themselves standing in the middle of a large rubble-strewn lot. At one end, a huge star-ship lay crashed into the side of a building. Its hull was primarily an olive green color, with a dark black underbelly. It was dotted with orange lights, some of which flickered as its power waned. Atop the aft section were six small tail fins, in the middle, a seventh, much larger fin that had been painted red.

One of the reporters was quick to point out the Loonatics standing before a door at the base of the vessel. The six of them appeared to be conversing with someone. Tech tapped a button on his podium, moving the scene closer to the simulated Loonatics.

Before them stood a tall feminine creature. She was humanoid in appearance, her skin as black as midnight, her hair a shining white, permeated by a few dull, gray strands. The creature had a face with no perceptible features, save large, intense blue eyes. She dressed in elegant, yet revealing finery. A circlet of gold and purple, centered with a large stone of jade sat atop her forehead. She had a necklace of large golden plates, and a pair of golden bracers. Across her chest, golden lingerie, held by thin threads of gold. Much as was the theme with the rest of her outfit, her belt was made from gold and golden thread, another large jade stone covered the cinch at the front. The belt held aloft a silken purple skirt. Her feet were adorned with simple purple slippers.

The scene shifted closer, allowing the press to hear the goings on. She addressed the Loonatics, explaining the severity of her situation. "...And that brings us to where we are now, if they catch me, Mars falls, and nothing will prevent them from taking Acmetropolis as well. If you have any sense of self preservation, you will assist me."

Across the lot another star-ship had landed. There were marked similarities between the two, though definite differences. The second vessel was larger, by roughly 20 meters in span. The vessel had a more hard-edged appearance, with the exception of a bulbous bridge section. Atop it was a curved decorative fin. The vessel was golden, with bright red accents. It was teeming with weapons as well, with eight forward mounted cannons, and several turrets on the underside. A hatch opened on the underside, extending a ramp to the ground.

As dozens of robots filtered out from the entrance of the vessel, Ace found himself compelled to stand. He took note of the others' reactions. The press, and the other Loonatics' attentions were diverted to the holographic record on display. He quietly stepped out of the room, leaving through the door at the back of the platform. At last, he found himself alone with his thoughts as he wandered the metallic hallways of the tower. The rabbit couldn't bare to sit through the event, as every day he'd been re-living it in his own mind already.

It was a cool morning, the breezes of autumn beginning to take hold. The events that would take place that day, would make each morning after seem so much colder to the downtrodden leader.

That afternoon a pair of unknown energy signatures were detected above the planet. It didn't take long for the alarms to go off, and for everyone to drop what they were doing to find out what was going on. Tech had soon scanned the intruding objects, a pair of vessels, martian in origin. Of course it wasn't long before this had become a moot point, for soon they'd come across a wide-band distress signal.

The communique replayed in Ace's memory. The imposing martian female with whom they were dealing in the hologram spoke clearly and directly, as she requested assistance. She was the queen of her people, and she was under threat from dissenters. The details of her presence in the area were unclear, and before the team could learn more of her, the lines of communication were jammed.

Ace sighed to himself, wishing that he'd stop reflecting upon that day. Everything seemed to remind him of something else. The rabbit looked about, finding that he'd unconsciously wandered into his bathroom. It was simple, white tile on the floor, a toilet, shower, and of course a sink, with a mirror. Atop the sink was a depleted tube of toothpaste and a crudely made wooden figurine of none other than Danger Duck.

He was immediately thrust into another vivid flashback. This time, the memory of a fight he had with Duck that very same rabbit was left bitter and perturbed just thinking about it. The heated argument coming back into his mind.

Of all da stupid, selfish things! ya could've seriously hoit someone... What'd possess ya ta lead a monsta like dat right into a crowd? Do ya EVER t'ink about anythin'?" He yelled.

The mallard fumed right back at him, "Of course I do!, I mean I got you that gift for your birthday last month remember?".

"Oh yeah," The gray rabbit began his rebuttal, " a statue of yerself, who can forget 'dat!"

Duck raised his voice in anger, trying to beat Ace's, "Hey! I put a lot of thought into that!"

"Just 'toughts of yaself. When ya get someone a gift, yer supposed ta try and get 'dem somethin' dey like!" Ace countered.

The mallard raised his finger, about to yell back once more, but suddenly he seemed to lose his fire. He dropped his hand, his expression changing from one of anger to one of hurt. Duck's momentary hurt twisted back into anger, though one could see that he had been genuinely upset. "I knew it..." the drake said quietly at first. He spoke again, his volume significantly raised... "You're like the others.. you don't even _like_ me!" He stormed out of the room in a mass of angry black feathers and loud footfalls.

Ace snapped back into reality for a moment, picking up the figurine on the sink. He examined it as he thought about that fateful argument. He only wished that he could have told Duck that nothing could be farther from the truth. Now he'd lost all hope of telling the mallard how he'd really felt. Now he sat there, fiddling with the statuette. A seam in the metal base caught his eye, tracing around it with a white finger, he'd accidentally shifted the bottom of the base. He couldn't help but twist the bottom a few times, unscrewing it, revealing a cavity.

Within the base of the statuette was a tiny piece of folded paper. Ace pulled it out curiously. He unfolded it, revealing a small hand-written note. Immediately he felt tears welling in his eyes at the message the note contained. "To: Ace, From: Duck, I wouldn't be where I am without you." His mind was being wrenched by the words. Ace looked up at the mirror, immediately a feeling of disgust seemed to overtaken him. "Yeah" he addressed himself, "ya'd be here without me." With no afterthought he gripped the statue firmly in his right hand and started beating the base against the mirror, causing the glass to give way and shatter loudly.

Ace stumbled into his bedroom. He approached the bed wearily, practically falling upon his mattress. The gray rabbit looked about the confines of the chamber. Cold metallic walls, undecorated, unfeeling. His bed and carpet, the only sources of real personality and warmth within the room. The mattress adorned with a simple orange blanket. He'd never thought about it before, but now the orange color of his bedding had an entirely new meaning to him. He gripped it tightly, holding it close to him as though it were someone dear.

He brushed a snow-white hand through the gray fur atop his head. Right now, something as simple as sleep felt like an impossible challenge. He was continually thrust in and out of memories from that day. Where some parts of his memory were all too vivid, others seemed a blur. He'd only wished the rest would dissolve to the same state.

Much of the dialogue from the day was lost to Ace, though that hadn't proven a compelling enough reason for him to sit in on the holographic presentation with the others. The events were still clear in his mind. The martian female that pleaded their help, queen Tyr'Ahnee was being hunted by separatists from her own empire. The Loonatics found themselves outnumbered by hundreds of hovering robots clad in armor plating which had resembled that of ancient roman centurions. They'd spent several hours fighting off the robots. Ace was confident that he'd likely carved his way through several dozen with his sword alone.

The rabbit sighed into his pillow.. The shadows of memories continued to flash before him. They'd actually managed to fight their way aboard the enemy ship. They pressed through dozens of cold, metallic corridors. The insurgent ship was completely automated, much like that of Melvin, from their previous Martian encounter. Ace hadn't paid much heed to the actions of the others, too engrossed in his own share of the combat as they escorted Tyr'Ahnee to the ship's bridge.

Tyr'Ahnee had chosen to fight alongside them. Her plan was to slay her foe, detonate his ship, and make off with whatever information could benefit her people. As they progressed down the hall Ace had noted her formidable fighting prowess. The queen was a force to be reckoned with. She'd taken down dozens of the robotic centurions with naught but her bare hands. Still the legions poured through the halls.

He couldn't recall how long they fought before reaching the bridge. The room was filled with black centurions. These robots seemed different from the others. Their design was sleek, and they were possessed of long slender legs. At the back of this formation they spotted the traitor. Like any other Martian, he had a featureless face, and his skin was a midnight hue. He had stern red eyes, and appeared angered that interlopers had taken the battle this far. He was dressed in similar armor to the centurion robots, all in black, with golden trim and embellishments. Across his shoulders dropped a long golden cape. He was tall, perhaps six feet, five inches, muscular of build, and he stood regally with a golden spear in his right hand.

Suddenly the ghosts of the past became much more vivid in the rabbit's mind. That soldier referred to himself as Arcturus. He prattled on about how under the queen's rule that mars would surely decay. Ace wasn't really too intrigued by the mad ramblings of the Martian male, instead steeling himself to fight. The speech drew to a close, and the rabbit wasted no time in drawing his sword against the enemy leader. The others took this time to engage the dozen or so black centurions. Meanwhile, the Martian queen fought her way to the control panel on the bridge.

Ace had been managing to avoid Arcturus' attacks fairly well, but found himself outmatched. As he would make a strike, his blade would meet with nothing but air. His laser vision was surprisingly ineffective against Arcturus' armor. For several minutes they traded attacks, much like a dance as their weapons spun about and both would duck a higher blow, or jump a lower one. However, in a fatal miscalculation Ace found himself standing between the insurgent and the queen. He knew immediately that he couldn't dodge the next blow, as it would leave the royal vulnerable to attack.

Arcturus thrust his spear at Ace, forcing the rabbit to parry. In doing so, he was overpowered, just barely managing to deflect the weapon, but losing his sword, and his footing in the process. He'd fallen to his back and looked upon the muscular Martian clad in blackened armor. Arcturus readied his spear once more, thrusting it toward the distracted queen at the console. Ace couldn't watch, he flinched, closing his eyes as the spear thrust forward. Immediately, he could hear the weapon rend through flesh, and he felt a warm liquid splatter upon his face.

He looked up, expecting to see the weapon driven through Tyr'Ahnee's form. Instead, he saw the head of the spear, stopped short of contact with the queen's body. A trickle of blood flowing down its length, and at the other end of this bloodied trail, a mallard, clad in a black uniform, standing four feet five inches. Ace's eyes widened in shock. It was as though his reality had broken at that very moment.. The rabbit saw the mallard grasping the shaft of the spear, preventing its motion. "Duck!" Ace exclaimed in astonishment.

The mallard's body went slack, and in moments Arcturus violently ripped the spear from Duck's chest. Ace trembled with rage as he saw the drake fall to the floor. Before the Martian could even react, the rabbit had delivered a swift, sweeping kick to his Achilles tendons, knocking him to the floor. Ace wasted no time in grabbing his sword from the floor. Before Arcturus had time to get up, the rabbit clad in black and yellow had straddled his chest.

Ace winced, as he thought back to the monster he'd become at that moment. He'd always given villains the chance to give up, or had always taken the moment to apprehend them. But that moment was so different. Torn by the grievous injury he saw delivered to Duck, the mallard's blood still fresh on his face, he lost all control. The rabbit had plunged the guardian sword viciously into Arcturus' chest. Ace cried out as he'd withdrawn the sword, and attacked the Martian more times than he could keep count of. His body had been soaked in fresh blood from the attack. It was Tech's grip that had pulled ace back into reality, physically restraining him .

Tears streamed freely from Ace's eyes, both at that time, and now in his pillow as he reminisced. As soon as Tech had released him, the rabbit scrambled to Duck's side, holding the mallard's shoulders. The black drake coughed up a small amount of blood. "Ace,". He wheezed, trying to speak through his injury. The rabbit's attention was immediately focused on Duck's attempted statement. His tears, mixed with blood dripped down on the drake's face. " Don't talk.. we're gonna get ya fixed right up, just wait." he said, his voice shaking.

Duck coughed, while letting out a weak chuckle. "I really am better than you at everything..." He wheezed, a violent cough interrupting his statement. "Especially lying... Do ya think that queenie over there will like the gift I got her?" Duck coughed up once more, fading out of consciousness as the last mote of air left his lung. Ace watched as the drake faded in his arms. He bent over, clutching the mallard, tightly to himself, his face buried in Duck's shoulder.

There was no signal from Tyr'Ahnee that they had to go, no fanfare. The Loonatics' bodies were surrounded by a blue glow, as they found themselves suddenly removed from the ship. Ace's arms now clutched nothing but air, and he looked at the ships in the distant lot. As the queen's cruiser had taken off, shooting toward space, his attention was left only to the other. Ace ran toward the lot, only to be restrained once more by the others. Within moments it was engulfed in a great fireball as it exploded violently, followed almost immediately by an implosion, compressing everything to a single point. He fell to his knees, his eyes full of tears, his hands and body still covered in fresh blood.

His pillow was now soaked with his own tears. He only thought, that if he'd done something differently, that if he could change anything, Duck would still be there, that he'd be able to see the drake's smile, be able to take his selfishness and sarcastic comments for granted once more.

The disheartened gray rabbit thought back to the last words he'd heard, the last words he'd ever hear, from Duck. "We shoulda returned it... it's too expensive" Ace quietly said to himself, gripping the pillow tightly. Reaching into its casing, he pulled out a small bottle of pills. "Acmezan" painkillers. He'd first been introduced to them by another stuntman. They were perfect for the injuries he'd sustained regularly in that career. Now he looked over the bottle. It had been so long since Ace had even considered taking them.

Now he didn't care, he just wanted something to help. Remembering an old trick he was taught by his mentor back then, the rabbit cracked the time-release gel cap, so his body would uptake it all at once. It was a great way to let the world around him, and his worries melt away. Of course it was also what got him in trouble once. Repercussions didn't matter anymore. He pondered to himself only briefly before cracking the capsule and swallowing it, confident that he'd be granted evanescent comfort as he waited for the world around him to dull once more.

At this time, the simulation of the battle had reached its end, and the other Loonatics were left to answer questions of the press. Tech selected the first of the reporters. "Mr. Coyote, What can you tell us of rumors that Ace Bunny has been forcibly retired for incompetence?" The first question had set a tone which had already unsettled the coyote.

Tech took a moment to collect himself, answering calmly, "He's still a part of this team, and still our leader. He has, however, been given additional leave until he is determined ready to join us on the field again. "

He pointed to another member of the press listening to their query, "What of rumors that there was a relationship between Ace Bunny and the deceased, that they were sexually involved?" Tech was immediately taken aback. He could hardly believe his ears.

He tried to remain calm. "I decline to answer that question, on grounds that I don't know. However, I'd suggest that you all consider growing a conscience. Do you really think that now is the right time to go out searching for scandal? After what you had just witnessed, you just want to drag the names of your protectors through the mud?" Anger was becoming somewhat evident in the coyote's voice. "I'm afraid that this conference is over."

With that he directed the mass of reporters to the room's exit.

A familiar queen sat upon her throne, her featureless face expectant as she addressed another at the bottom of the steps before her throne. A slender, tall Martian male stood in a white coat, a strong contrast to the crimson walls of the room, and the pink marbled tile upon the floor. His hair as black as his skin, growing just passed his shoulders. He pushed up a pair of glasses, as he was addressed.

"What of my most recent acquisition?" she asked, pushing locks of opalescent white hair over her shoulder.

"Y-yes my queen. It seems they are stable, and they... they will awaken within the hour." The other said, practically trembling as he answered the inquiry of Tyr'Ahnee.

She glared at him, her stern eyes softening, and her voice lifting somewhat, " This is most excellent news. See to it that all goes well." She said, waving a hand to dismiss the unknown Martian.

~To Be Continued


End file.
